South End News election endorsements

The South End News endorsed Susan Passoni in the District 2 race; Menino for Mayor; and Felix Arroyo, Patricia White, Matt O'Malley and Michael Flaherty in the At-Large race. The newspaper does not have a Web site. Here's the editorial:

editorial

Boston City Council endorsements

This year’s crop of candidates for Boston City Council is the strongest we’ve seen in years. Voters are better off for it. When we go to the polls next Tuesday, Nov. 8, we’ll have an opportunity to send new energy, ideas and passion to Boston’s much-maligned City Council.

One of the themes emerging from the At-Large race is that the Council is only as strong as its members make it. Although the Council’s powers technically reside just in its authority to approve the Mayor’s budget, the Council is a powerful bully pulpit from which to push policy ideas and endorse social movements.

Toward that end, South End News strongly endorses At-Large incumbent Felix Arroyo for re-election. Arroyo, a former president of the Boston School Committee, is unrelenting in his calls for reform of the public school system, particularly around the deeply troubling achievement gap between white students and Black and Latino students. He also intuitively understands the Council’s power as a public platform. Look no further than his advocacy on behalf of LGBT people in the Latino community as a powerful example.

South End News also endorses Patricia White and Matt O’Malley in the At-Large race. White and O’Malley are each making their second runs for the Council. Both are political animals; neither would have much of a learning curve after settling into office. Through her work for non-profits such as the Heinz Foundation, Work Family Directions and, most recently, Boston Partners in Education, White advocated for education reform and private-sector solutions to work/family issues. And while it may be politically incorrect to make much of the fact that White was pregnant through much of the campaign, until she gave birth to her son William in July, and then campaigned as a new mother, we’re impressed nonetheless. White, clearly, is a master multi-tasker and we want her working for us on the Council.

O’Malley could have retreated from politics after his at-times whimsical-seeming run for Council in 2003. (He blogged on his campaign Web site about trips to Dunkin’ Donuts and his love for Little Debbie snack cakes.) Instead, he emerged as Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral’s campaign manager. Her victory over Councilor Stephen Murphy stunned nearly every political observer and cemented the idea that there is, in fact, a “New Boston” out there. Count the red-headed Irish-American O’Malley as a member and give him one of your four votes for the At-Large slot.

For the fourth and final At-Large seat, South End News endorses incumbent Councilor Michael Flaherty. We do so with some reservations, however. Flaherty presided over the Council as president when some of its members, including Flaherty, met privately with Boston Redevelopment Authority Director Mark Maloney, earning the body a warning letter from Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley that the Council had likely violated the state’s Open Meeting law. As Council president he has prohibited members from introducing official resolutions on matters of national interest, such as the USA Patriot Act. The Boston City Council, like most elected city boards around the country, has a rich tradition of taking stands on national issues ranging from the Vietnam War to civil rights. This is one of the ways by which public policy can be influenced and only someone with a limited imagination cannot see how these issues impact local residents.

Flaherty, nonetheless, remains an immensely appealing politician. His victory in 1999, when he ran from South Boston as a progressive who would work for everyone in Boston, showed other Irish-Catholic politicians like State Sens. Jack Hart and Marian Walsh that they wouldn’t lose their jobs if they voted their conscience on matters of gay rights. He articulates better than anyone else running for City Council the crucial need for drug treatment for addicts. He is a passionate supporter of public school reform. And he smartly called for a moratorium on any work related to the BioSafety Level 4 lab until a real evacuation plan has been worked out. All of that should earn him re-election to the Council.

We would be remiss in not mentioning our reasons for leaving candidates like Sam Yoon and John Connolly off of our endorsement slate. Yoon has won plaudits for breaking ground as the first Asian-American to run for citywide office. He has an impeccable resume as a community development activist. In past council races, he might have been the best candidate out there. But in this field he is simply outdone by the competition. His learning curve for the politics of the council would be too steep to recommend him for office.

As for Connolly, he, too, is immensely appealing. His background as an educator and attorney is impressive. He is a relentless campaigner. In past years, he would surely have won our endorsement. But this field is deep with those who have past political experience and that tipped the balance for us.

In the District Two council race, which has seen its first real fight in at least a decade, South End News endorses challenger Susan Passoni. Passoni is smart, she’s hard-working and she’s from the South End — which, after 22 years, deserves a Councilor who lives in the neighborhood. Passoni, of course, is new to politics. That’s been obvious in the campaign. She was absent from neighborhood events — such as the Blackstone/Franklin Neighborhood Watch meetings and neighborhood walk throughs — that attracted politicians the way tax-free amnesty days lure shoppers to big box retailers. But Passoni is a quick study. We have every confidence that as a district councilor Passoni would be a fierce advocate for constituent services.

While on the topic of the District 2 race, it needs to be said that incumbent James Kelly is a master at delivering services. And he’s a likeable man. But his ideas about social issues are rooted deep in the past. Look no further than his annual toast to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling barring openly gay people from marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. There is simply no way to pretend that that ugly battle was not steeped in homophobia on the part of parade organizers. The entire city, not just the neighborhoods of the South End and South Boston, deserve a councilor from District 2 who understands, on a basic level, the need to treat every citizen with dignity and respect. That involves much more than getting potholes filled for constituents without regard to the constituent’s sexual orientation.

In the race for Mayor, South End News endorses Mayor Tom Menino. Menino has presided over a revitalization of the city that makes Boston, in parts, unrecognizable from what it looked like 12 years ago, when he first took office. Look no further than the South End’s Washington Street for evidence of this.

That said, the Mayor’s failure to understand how the seeming secrecy with which the negotiations around the siting of the BioSafety Level 4 Laboratory took place ultimately impacted the public debate on the issue is deeply troubling. As was the Mayor’s failure to reign in unions during collective bargaining negotiations last year. An arbitrator ultimately settled on a raise for the police and fire unions, but Menino’s inability to get the matter settled before it became a crisis in the week’s prior to last year’s Democratic National Convention displayed lax leadership.

These issues alone, in fact, would be enough to endorse a new candidate. But Maura Hennigan’s campaign has been absent of ideas. She is not the politician the city needs to solve problems with housing, crime, the quality of the schools and declining city services. Here’s to hoping Menino can muster up the energy and ideas in one more term to stem the tide.